The Bipartisan Push to Fully Restore the Export-Import Bank

Export-Import Bank supporters are back at it again. According to a document from the Office of Management and Budget, the administration isreportedly asking lawmakers to include a provision restoring the agency ’s full lending authority as part of the continuing resolution that needs to be passed in order to keep the government functioning after September 30th. It was just a few weeks before his election in 2008 thatObama said it had “become little more than a fund for corporate welfare,” and cited it as an example of why he wasn’t someone “who believes we can or should defend every government program just because it’s there.” What a difference eight years can make.Opponents of cheered last year when Congress let the bank ’s charter lapse, only for it to be reauthorized months later when a provision was attached to the highway bill in December to reauthorize the agency through September 2019.The agency, which provides financing and loan guarantees for U.S. export transactions, has since been limited in the scope of its lending authority, as the Senate has declined to approve the administration ’s nominee to its board of directors. With three of five board seats vacant, quorum rules prevent the bank from approving any transactions over $10 million until the vacancy is filled.This latest request from the administration is the culmination of a concerted effort on both sides of the aisle to restore full authority to the agency, without which it cannot approve th...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs